About Maria Korolov

Maria Korolov is an award-winning tech journalist who covers cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and extended reality.

She’s also a science fiction author and the editor and founder of MetaStellar, an online magazine of speculative fiction, and of Hypergrid Business, one of the world’s top virtual reality blogs.

Contact her at maria@korolov.com to pitch articles or to hire her as writer, editor, or speaker at your event.

Follow her on Twitter at @MariaKorolov, on Threads at @MariaKorolov, and check out her latest videos on the Maria Korolov YouTube channel.

Latest AI articles

SUSE expands AI tools to control workloads, LLM usage

SUSE expands AI tools to control workloads, LLM usage

Mar 13, 2025

SUSE expanded its nascent AI platform with a small selections of tools and capabilities, and a partnership with Infosys

7 ways gen AI can create more work than it saves

7 ways gen AI can create more work than it saves

Nov 13, 2024
As gen AI use continues to skyrocket, reports of business benefits are trickling in. But we’re also seeing more cases where the tech can actually create more work than it saves.
10 ways hackers will use machine learning to launch attacks

10 ways hackers will use machine learning to launch attacks

Nov 5, 2024
AI and machine learning are improving cybersecurity, helping human analysts triage threats and close vulnerabilities quicker. But they are also helping threat actors launch bigger, more complex attacks.
As AI scales, infrastructure challenges emerge

As AI scales, infrastructure challenges emerge

Oct 23, 2024
Early adopters of gen AI typically used ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and similar SaaS tools that cost money but didn’t create infrastructure challenges. As companies scale up, however, those challenges are beginning to emerge.

Latest quantum computing articles

IBM, Microsoft and Boeing mark advances in quantum computing

IBM, Microsoft and Boeing mark advances in quantum computing

Sep 16, 2024

IBM today announced its Quiskit Functions Catalog, a collection of services that are designed to make it easier for enterprise developers to experiment with quantum use cases.

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What is quantum cryptography? It’s no silver bullet, but could improve security

Mar 12, 2019
In the arms race between white and black hats, the infosec industry looks to quantum cryptography and quantum key distribution (QKD). That may be just part of the answer, however.
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A New Type of Network Is on the Rise to Combat the Quantum Threat to Encryption

Jan 10, 2019
“Quantum-proof” encryption algorithms won’t be entirely quantum-proof. Quantum key distribution networks could be the answer.
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8 old technologies that still play roles in security

Dec 10, 2018
Newer isn’t always better, at least where cybersecurity is concerned. For some applications, these older technologies are still effective ways to protect data and systems.

Latest Cybersecurity articles

NIST finally settles on quantum-safe crypto standards

NIST finally settles on quantum-safe crypto standards

Aug 13, 2024

After years of review, the National Institute of Standards and Technology has chosen three encryption algorithms as the basis for its post-quantum security strategy.

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VMware Cloud gains faster ransomware recovery, expanded management capabilities

Aug 22, 2023
Among the announcements at the VMware Explore conference is a new IBM-managed service based on VMware Cloud editions.
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VMware NSX+ centralizes cloud networking and security for multicloud environments

Aug 22, 2023
VMware NSX+ is a new cloud-managed service that enables consistent network operations and centralized security policy creation and enforcement in multicloud environments.
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VMware combines SASE and edge management in new orchestration platform, announces private 5G service

Aug 22, 2023
News from the VMware Explore conference includes a unified management platform for VMware’s SASE and edge computing stack, along with a new managed private mobile networking service.

Latest Networking articles

VMware Cloud Foundation gains AI model store, other updates

VMware Cloud Foundation gains AI model store, other updates

Aug 28, 2024

At the VMware Explore conference this week, Broadcom announced expanded AI support, including a new AI model store for VMware Private AI running on VMware Cloud Foundation.

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IT supply issues have organizations shifting from just-in-time to just-in-case buying

Jan 6, 2023
Uncertainty about the length of backlogs for IT hardware means both vendors and enterprises are changing their purchasing strategies.
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Cisco DevNet certifications explained

Aug 22, 2022
New career-boosting certs are aimed at network automation, observability and programmability
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Early adopters embrace private 5G

Aug 8, 2022
Two arenas and a manufacturing center are deploying private 5G networks for tech gains that include low latency, high reliability, and support for massive numbers of connected devices.
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Who’s selling private 5G and what do you get?

Aug 8, 2022
There are five common ways for companies to procure private 5G networks, and service levels can vary dramatically.
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Private 5G promising for enterprises, but growth stymied by pandemic, lack of hardware

Jun 23, 2022
It’s still early days for private 5G networks, as a majority of enterprises are waiting for devices to mature, standards to progress, and solid use cases to emerge.

latest Awards

latest Appearances

older Awards and Appearances

Judge, 2019 CSO50 awards

Maria is one of the judges of the annual CSO50 awards, which recognize 50 organizations for their security project or initiative that demonstrates outstanding business value and thought leadership.

Judge, Epica Awards

Maria is a member of the jury of the 2018 Epica awards, the only global creative prize judged by journalists.

Jan. 2018: Maria Korolov talks with Sine Wave about “Succeeding As A Retailer In Immersive Worlds.” 

Dec. 2017: Speaker at Stereopsia conference in Brussels, Belgium. Topic was women in virtual reality. Click here for slides.

Dec. 2017: Speaker at OpenSimulator Community Conference. Topic was a statistical overview of OpenSim development. Click here for slides.

Apr. 2017: Profiled in Viar360’s Women of VR – 35 Ladies Who Are Killing It In Virtual Reality

Aug. 2016: Mentioned in Marie Claire’s Virtual Reality Has a Female Mafia—and They’re Looking for New Recruits

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May 2016: Interviewed by the BCC about how virtual reality will change our lives. Listen to the broadcast hereRead the transcript here.

Sep. 2015: Mentioned in Fortune’s Meet the women shaping our virtual future.

Latest Blog Posts

Migrating away from DabbleDB

Jun 12, 2010
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DabbleDB, the online relational database platform that our company runs on, has been bought by Twitter. And, according to Dabble’s founders, Twitter has no interest…

International Channel Shanghai

Jun 7, 2010
International Channel Shanghai

Maria Korolov Trombly (center) appeared several times as a guest on the Culture Matters television talk show, airing on the International Channel Shanghai.

‘A Changing China’ released

Jun 7, 2010
‘A Changing China’ released

The China Speaker’s Bureau First book — A Changing China — is now out in print and available from Amazon. Maria Korolov edited the book,…

How to Become a Shanghai Entrepreneur

Mar 12, 2009
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This article originally appeared in Shanghai Expat. By Maria Korolov Trombly I’ve seen a sharp influx of potential entrepreneurs to Shanghai when I was in…

How to Become a Shanghai Entrepreneur

Mar 12, 2009
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I’ve seen a sharp influx of potential entrepreneurs to Shanghai when I was in town the last couple of months. As the U.S. and European…

I love my work — do my employees?

Feb 11, 2009
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My theory is, in China, the higher up you are the less work you do — poor people on farms, in mines work the hardest.…